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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467874">The Bastion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster'>Kaoru_chibimaster</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hollow Bastion Cleon [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, background soriku, kh3, remind spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:35:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,785</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467874</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This was a reunion long overdue.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hollow Bastion Cleon [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616497</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Bastion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Well since re:mind didn’t want to give us a conclusion to Cloud’s battle with Sephiroth <b>*insert Thanos “Fine, I’ll do it myself” meme*</b>. I’ve wanted to write this for a while now but I had to wait until kh3 was out so I could have some material to work with. Thankfully re:mind gave me something with Limit Cut so I ran with it and now this exists and can finally stop lingering on my mind.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Here.”</p>
<p>Leon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, arms crossed as he made no move to grab the disc from between Cid’s fingers.</p>
<p>He, of course, was rewarded with a reddened scowl and a popped forehead vein.</p>
<p>“You got cotton in yer ears or somethin’?”</p>
<p>“I guess I do, because I don’t remember ever hearing the news that I’m your errand boy.”</p>
<p>“Smart aleck…” Cid grumbled. He waved the disc—quite obnoxiously, Leon noted—in Leon’s face with a jarring enthusiasm in contrast to his tight-jawed irritation.</p>
<p>“Take this up to the castle,” he demanded, of all things. Maybe he genuinely thought Leon was his errand boy.</p>
<p>“Why?” Leon sighed, feeling a crease start to form in his brow. Was he being difficult? Yes. But considering how he’d been running around for the better part of the day already, since the crack of dawn, he might add, it was more than a little tiresome to have something else shoved at him with the expectation that he hike up his metaphorical skirts and start hoofing it across town. <em>Again</em>.</p>
<p>“Because I said so!” Buzz. Wrong answer. Leon turned to leave, not even pausing as Cid floundered. “Wait, hang on—you hold it right there!”</p>
<p>Leon already had his hand around the door handle, prepared to just head home for the evening and rest a bit, but something in him—something deep down that he wished would stop pestering him and shut up for a bit so he could guiltlessly fling the door open and go about his business—gave him a split second’s pause.</p>
<p>Turned out a split second was all Cid needed.</p>
<p>“It’s a copy of the data we analyzed from that Garden of Assemblage. I need you to take it up to the castle so that apprentice kid can look it over. Seeing as the other kid is outta commission…”</p>
<p>Sighing, Leon peered back at the bed in the corner of Merlin’s room, where Riku was napping out his exhaustion. He’d been up day and night combing through the data analysis, picking through fights with organization members and trying to find messages in the data greeting feature. Something, <em>anything</em>, that might help them find Sora. And when he wasn’t glued to that computer screen, he had the Fairy Godmother sifting through his dreams to try and trace his connection with Sora back to wherever the kid may have ended up. It hadn’t been going too well so far and it left Riku with trembling hands and dark bags under his eyes. The sort of state that had both Leon and Aerith putting their feet down and demanding he take a moment to rest. He’d only gone to sleep about an hour prior but Leon had a feeling he’d be out for the rest of the night. It was sleep he deserved.</p>
<p>Of course, it took him out of the candidacy for delivery boy, so it was only natural that Leon was the second best choice.</p>
<p>Still… He’d been hoping for some rest of his own. It’d been a long few days, on top of a long few weeks, on top of an overly long, overly stressful year, and Leon felt like he’d drop any second. After all, there was still so much to do and it never felt like there was enough time to do it.</p>
<p>And his one distraction had been gone for just as long, with no word or letter or even a sign that he was still alive, so it wasn’t as if Leon had any sort of release to help ease the load. That was a distraction he’d missed far more than he cared to admit aloud…</p>
<p>He supposed he could afford one more trip to the castle. He understood how Riku felt, longing for that special, precious person when they were so far out of reach for so long. The data they’d recorded and copied to that disc could genuinely be of some help to them in the right hands and Ienzo had proven to be more than up to the challenge when it came to helping them find Sora, so Leon could spare the effort to get that information up to the castle sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>But that was it. After this, he was going home and slipping into his own bed. The search could continue tomorrow; tonight he was going to at least <em>try</em> to get a healthy amount of sleep.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Leon huffed, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly before holding it out for the disc. Cid wheeled his chair over, chewing aggravatedly on his toothpick at the extra effort he had to go through to place it in Leon’s waiting palm. Leon wasn’t quite in a state of mind to feel bad, but he knew if he strayed too far from the door, there was no way he’d be leaving that house. He’d end up crashing on one of the chairs at Merlin’s table.</p>
<p>“You should be able to just pass that along to the guards at the gate, and they’ll take it from there. Try not to fall down the stairs or something,” Cid grunted, wheeling back over to the computer to continue messing with it. He’d been setting up a wireless connection that would allow information to be passed between the three connected computers without anything needing to be downloaded or burnt onto a physical disc. Until then, Leon would have to settle for a little more running around.</p>
<p>He turned on his heel to do just that, pulling the door open and checking the area for any errant heartless before stepping out onto the cobblestones. They didn’t show up nearly as often as they used to, and when they did, the towns defenses usually took care of them before any of the committee needed to, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. The last thing Leon needed was to be caught off guard.</p>
<p>Thankfully the coast was clear, absent of even human activity as people were likely in their workplaces or school buildings by now, and Leon was free to head for the bailey and, subsequently, the castle. The entire pathway, starting from the stairs and continuing up to the postern, had been not only restored but improved. It wasn’t quite the same Radiant Garden Leon had grown up in, but it evoked a similar image as gleaming white stones and healthy greenery lined every surface. Even the fountain court had been restored, though it had to be moved as the layout of the city had changed. As it turned out, working off of old memories with a nine year gap in between had left a lot of the reconstruction up to interpretation. Cid and Merlin were the only ones with the clearest memories and even they had to take liberties to fill in the blanks.</p>
<p>No one seemed to really mind much though. “Out with the old and in with the new” seemed to be the general attitude. Leon could agree to that; he was still in junior high when his world fell so it wasn’t as if he was so attached to the old layout of the world that he couldn’t be open to something new.</p>
<p>Besides, it’d been fun. Even he could admit to that. There’d been a lot of ups and downs in the restoration effort and spirits weren’t particularly high when the bailey had gotten destroyed, but it’d been a team effort and Leon had grown fond of his teammates. And even…</p>
<p>Well…</p>
<p>He wouldn’t linger any longer on that subject. It’d send him down a path of pining that he wasn’t particularly in the mood for.</p>
<p>It wasn’t the time to think about such things anyway. It was already dusk and Leon could <em>feel</em> it in every bone in his body. Even the orange glow of sunset filtering through the bailey and lighting the path beyond was enough to make his eyelids droop. And this far from the rest of the populace, the atmosphere droned with the ambience of heavy machinery powering the castle gears. A low hum that was difficult not to drift off to.</p>
<p>So much for not being caught off guard. Leon was sure at this point that a bear could be standing in front of him and he still wouldn’t notice it. Lost in thought as his feet stepped forward automatically, shoes scraping against the stone.</p>
<p>A hand found its way to the small of his back and Leon struggled not to jerk out of the touch. Maybe if he kept walking, he could pass that off as if he hadn’t been taken completely by surprise—</p>
<p>“Are you ignoring me because I’ve been gone so long or because I spooked you?”</p>
<p>That voice.</p>
<p>That <em>voice</em>.</p>
<p>He hadn’t heard it in a year and yet it was as familiar as breathing. He dreamt it every night in his sleep, promising to see him again.</p>
<p>He spent every morning after hoping that’d be the day that promise was kept.</p>
<p>Gods damn it all.</p>
<p>Leon turned on the spot, expression thunderous, as he mentally debated on whether to punch the man in front of him or kiss him.</p>
<p>Despite his hand balling up into a tight fist, he ended up going for the latter.</p>
<p>Fistfuls of fabric were clutched, yanking until the body clothed in it stumbled forward, and Leon’s eyes immediately shut as warm lips met his. It was a desperate, longing sort of kiss. The sort where Leon had to relearn every texture, every movement, every taste of it. The sort that shortened his breaths as he pulled his lover closer; so close that they were practically mashed together. Lips smacked and fingers grabbed and a warmth bloomed over Leon’s skin that was as familiar as an old friend, gone away for a while.</p>
<p>Only to come back with a fierce vengeance.</p>
<p>But of course that’s how it was with Cloud. Nothing was ever done in halves with him. He’d slid his fingers into Leon’s hair and pulled at it lightly, kissing him back with just as much vigor.</p>
<p>It seemed he’d missed Leon too then. That was comforting to know, at the very least.</p>
<p>“What the hell took you so long?” Leon mumbled against Cloud’s lips, barely giving him the chance to answer before interrupting him with more needy, desperate kisses. Cloud didn’t seem to mind.</p>
<p>“I was…” Another kiss interrupted him. “…It was…” And another. “…I can’t tell you if you keep doing that.”</p>
<p>He’d laughed lightly when he said it, but he had a point. As much as Leon wanted to continue, invigorated with excitement and relief and love and a whole slew of other emotions that he couldn’t begin to untangle, he did genuinely want to hear Cloud’s tale.</p>
<p>“Alright.” He wasn’t exactly going to <em>apologize</em> for showering Cloud with kisses, but he’d certainly stop to listen. “Tell me what happened.”</p>
<p>“Besides the obvious?”</p>
<p>Leon raised an eyebrow at that, waiting silently for ‘the obvious’.</p>
<p>“That I won,” Cloud huffed in mock-exasperation. Leon had half a mind to mirror the sound.</p>
<p>“<em>Besides the obvious</em>.”</p>
<p>Slowly but surely, the humor fell from Cloud’s expression. His gaze was far away, looking through Leon rather than at him, and Leon found himself gripping Cloud tighter in response. Wanting to ground him against whatever memories were playing through his mind.</p>
<p>“It was…” he started again.</p>
<p>This time, Leon did not interrupt.</p>
<p>“It was after my fight with him in the great maw. Tifa was there, and so was Sora and Donald and Goofy. And I knew letting them get caught up in my fight would only end in them being hurt. I couldn’t let that happen…”</p>
<p>His voice was quiet, recounting the events as if he’d watched them from the sidelines as a silent observer.</p>
<p>“I thought we’d continue our battle in another world. One where no one would be hurt. But <em>he</em> slipped away again. Lead me on a wild goose chase for the better part of a year. I think he was trying to weaken me. Tire me out enough so that when he confronted me again, I would just give in.”</p>
<p>“But you didn’t.”</p>
<p>Cloud shook his head, smiling minutely.</p>
<p>“I had someone to come home to. Couldn’t afford to let him get the jump on me.”</p>
<p>Leon couldn’t deny the warmth that spread through him at that. It wasn’t as if he’d doubted Cloud, but hearing him say it after they’d spent so long apart was gratifying in ways he couldn’t describe.</p>
<p>“You can quit grinning at me,” Cloud added. “You knew I’d come back.”</p>
<p>“Yeah. I knew…” Leon trailed off, unable to wipe the smile off of his face. He’d slid an arm around Cloud to pull him closer, just wanting to feel him there, and it was all he could do to hide his widening grin in Cloud’s hair. It smelled of rain, and Leon wondered if that had to do with wherever Cloud had ended up to finish off his battle with Sephiroth.</p>
<p>“Don’t leave me hanging. What happened when he confronted you?”</p>
<p>“He didn’t come in swinging. That was always his angle; he’d try to talk me into giving into the darkness first. He likes to mess with the mind. Make you think darkness is the only way. I’d been hopping worlds by way of sheer willpower at that point and it was hard to even hold my sword up.”</p>
<p>“And yet here you are. Clearly you won.”</p>
<p>Cloud shrugged at that.</p>
<p>“I suppose. It wasn’t your typical victory, you know with fanfare and triumph and all that. He’s darkness personified: he doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t lose his composure, he doesn’t feel winded… For a moment, I thought I’d have to take myself out to defeat him.”</p>
<p>Leon winced, hugging Cloud tighter. That was a frightening possibility, and he didn’t know what he would have done if it’d come to fruition.</p>
<p>“And I know,” Cloud continued. “I know what you’re about to say. But it’d seemed like the only way.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t take it though.”</p>
<p>“I felt your light.”</p>
<p>Brow furrowing, Leon pulled back to give Cloud a questioning gaze.</p>
<p>“It was faint, but it was there. I felt your light pushing me forward and I used that push to take him down for good. He shouldn’t bother anyone else ever again. Not even the kid,” Cloud nodded resolutely. That was good to hear…even if it sent a bit of a flush over Leon’s face.</p>
<p>Although it also brought Leon stumbling back into the present situation.</p>
<p>Specifically, Cloud’s comment about ‘the kid’. The kid who he didn’t know has been missing for a year.</p>
<p>Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, Leon’s eyes trailed down to the disc still clutched haphazardly in his hand. He’d nearly forgotten about the thing, only holding it absentmindedly as muscle memory automatically took over and kept his pinky and ring fingers curled around it.</p>
<p>“What’s that all about?” Cloud asked, having followed Leon’s line of sight.</p>
<p>“Sora,” Leon simply said. Cloud, understandably, raised a confused eyebrow.</p>
<p>“What about him?”</p>
<p>“He’s missing. Has been for a year.”</p>
<p>Cloud’s expression immediately shifted into concern, and Leon couldn’t help but note how much more expressive Cloud was in general with the weight of his own darkness no longer lingering over him. It was a bright spot in the midst of a bleak expanse. Leon thought it was pretty bleak, at least. He didn’t like the idea of a fifteen-year-old—or he supposed sixteen now—going missing for so long.</p>
<p>“What happened?”</p>
<p>“A lot,” Leon huffed, not knowing quite where to begin.</p>
<p>“How’d he go missing?”</p>
<p>“Around a year ago, Riku and King Mickey had shown up asking around for any clues on him. Mentioned that he’d used some power that had caused him to disappear and that he wouldn’t be able to come back on his own. They’d both gone off searching through other worlds they’d been to for signs of Sora, but as you can tell there’s been nothing yet. King Mickey and his guards are still searching, but Cid had pulled up some interesting data on his computer, likely due to its connection to the other two in the castle and Twilight Town. Riku has stayed since, combing through all that data to find <em>some</em> sign of Sora.”</p>
<p>Leon felt for the kid. He honestly, truly understood. And he wanted Riku to feel what he felt at finding Cloud again. Hence why he was out here now, heading for the postern.</p>
<p>“Cid downloaded what we’ve found so far on this,” Leon continued, wiggling the disc lightly as he held it up for Cloud to see. “So I’m going to take it up to the castle so Ienzo—a former apprentice of Ansem—can look at it.”</p>
<p>Cloud nodded in understanding. It was a lot of information at once, but Leon was sure he was used to the situation changing up on him frequently what with how many worlds he’d visited in years passed.</p>
<p>“Need any help?” Cloud offered. “If you want, I can hop a few worlds. See if I can find the kid. The places I saw when chasing Sephiroth are places you guys don’t typically go, places the kid probably hasn’t even visited. He might have ended up where no one’s looking.”</p>
<p>That was all very nice and Leon was sure to take him up on the offer later, possibly even join him if the Committee didn’t need his help here in Radiant Garden, but for now the thought of Cloud up and leaving this soon after having just gotten back was the last thing Leon needed.</p>
<p>He just needed a moment to take everything in. Cloud was back. He was <em>home</em>. Leon wasn’t interested in watching him walk away again.</p>
<p>“Hang on,” he shook his head, reaching out without conscious input to grasp at Cloud’s arm. He’d lost the sleeve covering the darkness that had started to visibly spread. Now that the physical manifestation of it has been conquered, there was nothing to cover up.</p>
<p>“You just got back. Take a moment to rest. We’ve been working tirelessly for the past year to find Sora, and while I’m glad to accept your help in this, I think it’s safe to say we could both use a break.”</p>
<p>A tiny smile pulled at the corner of Cloud’s lips at that, and he pulled his arm from Leon’s hold only to thread their fingers instead. A far cry from how shy and unsure they’d been when they first started this. Now it was a comfort Leon had longed for and wouldn’t dare shrug off.</p>
<p>“C’mon. I’ll walk with you to the postern and we can hand this off to someone there. And then we can take that break,” Cloud said, practically grinning as he rolled his shoulders. “Could use one anyway.”</p>
<p>He certainly looked like he could. And Leon absolutely felt like he could. It’d been a long day and he was about as ready to crash as Riku had been.</p>
<p>“We can head back to my place then.” A little house in the borough, just like Cloud had wanted. One they could share. In truth it was ‘their place’, but he wanted Cloud to make that decision himself before he’d officially address it as such.</p>
<p>Though Cloud seemed to have taken that a little more suggestively, judging by the way his eyes trailed over Leon’s form</p>
<p>“That doesn’t sound like much of a break, Squall.”</p>
<p>Snorting and rolling his eyes, he made sure to emphasize: “To <em>rest</em>.” They’d do something fun later. Leon didn’t even have the energy for that right now.</p>
<p>Besides, he was more than content with just holding Cloud close. It’d been <em>so long</em>…</p>
<p>“Alright, alright…” Cloud sighed, playfully of course, squeezing Leon’s hand as he nodded his head in the direction of the castle. “Nap first, play later.”</p>
<p>“<em>Work</em> first. Then nap, then play,” Leon corrected him, holding the disc up once more. He wasn’t quite at the point of putting everything off just to cuddle up with Cloud yet, and he knew in the time he could be spending with Cloud later, Ienzo could be searching up clues in the data analysis. It’d be counterproductive and, quite frankly, needlessly cruel to put this off. Not when it could take them one step closer to finding Sora just that much faster.</p>
<p>“Work first then,” Cloud agreed. “I find it kinda funny though…”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“I finally get back and there’s already another mess to clean up.”</p>
<p>Ha.</p>
<p>With this world, there’d been nothing but messes for the past eleven years. It was nice to have the Garden back up to snuff and teeming with life, but of course their work never really ended. There was always <em>something</em> new.</p>
<p>At least it kept life interesting.</p>
<p>“You signed up for this same as I did, fellow Committee member—”</p>
<p>“Do I still count as a member if I lost my card?”</p>
<p>“—Throwing your card away doesn’t excuse you from the Committee. And as a Committee member, you too are obligated to help out with Committee affairs. Because the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee is here to help.”</p>
<p>“How often did you recite that in a mirror?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t. Yuffie mocked our slogan enough that it’s now ingrained into my subconscious.”</p>
<p>That earned a genuine laugh from Cloud, and Leon couldn’t begin to describe how good it felt to hear that.</p>
<p>“That’s a slogan? Not much of one,” he chuckled. It was contagious enough that even Leon was snickering.</p>
<p>“It was an ‘on the fly’ Cid creation,” Leon shrugged.</p>
<p>“Ah. That explains it.”</p>
<p>“This is still our business though. Sora <em>is</em> technically a member as well. And more than that, he’s a friend. So this is a mess that’s hard to say no to cleaning up.”</p>
<p>“You’re right. If it wasn’t for him, I…” Cloud trailed off. Leon understood though. It’d led to a long, lonely year of wondering where Cloud went and whether or not he was okay, but Sora had given Cloud the opportunity to confront his darkness. And clearly he’d conquered it if the laughter and smiles were anything to go by. Clearly he was free from it.</p>
<p>They had to thank him when they found him. So it was a no-brainer that they helped search.</p>
<p>“A lot of things wouldn’t be as they are if it wasn’t for him. Helping to look for him is the least we can do,” Leon said, squeezing Cloud’s hand back.</p>
<p>“Of course. But… Break first?”</p>
<p>Smiling, Leon bumped his shoulder lightly against Cloud’s as they started the walk to the castle.</p>
<p>“Break first.”</p>
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